A man armed with a knife and shouting “Allah Akbar”, listed for radicalism and monitored by French intelligence, killed a teacher and seriously injured two people at a middle school in Arras, northern France, on Friday morning.
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French President Emmanuel Macron called on the French to remain “united” and “stand together” in the face of the “barbarism of Islamist terrorism,” in a speech in the courtyard of the establishment where the attack took place.
The attacker arrested by police, Mohammed Mogouchkov, is around 20 years old and originally from the Russian Caucasus, according to police sources. According to one of them, he is a Russian citizen and came to France in 2008.
There was a police operation at Gambetta High School in Arras. The perpetrator was arrested by the police.
– Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) October 13, 2023
The person, listed because of his potential threat to state security, is under surveillance by the French secret service (DGSI) and was checked on Thursday, an intelligence source told AFP.
The man “has been under surveillance and has been physically monitored since this summer,” the same source said, adding that “his telephone conversations in recent days had not revealed any clues that would have allowed us to announce any action.”
One of his brothers was “arrested and detained by the DGSI in the summer of 2019 as part of a foiled attack plan and then on excuse grounds,” this source said.
According to police, the slain teacher was stabbed in the throat and chest.
Among the two injured were a security guard who suffered multiple stab wounds and a teacher. According to a source familiar with the case, the security guard is “very seriously injured, between life and death.” No high school students were injured.
AFP
Emmanuel Macron, standing in front of the dead teacher’s body, made it clear that he had intervened and “undoubtedly saved many lives himself.”
He also pointed out that another “attempt to attack” “in another region” had been foiled thanks to police intervention.
This attack comes almost three years to the day after the murder of Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher who was beheaded on October 16, 2020, near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the Paris region, about ten days later He showed his students cartoons of Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression. At that time, the 18-year-old attacker, a Russian refugee of Chechen origin, was killed by the police.
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The national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office announced on Friday that it had opened an investigation.
Mohammed Mogouchkov’s 17-year-old brother was arrested near another facility without possessing a weapon. Several family members were arrested as part of the investigation.
A large security perimeter was set up around the facility where students and staff were confined.
Testimonial from a teacher
A philosophy teacher who witnessed the attack described panicking during intercourse as the middle school students confronted an armed man.
“He attacked the canteen staff, I went down to intervene, he turned to me, chased me and asked me if I was a history and geography teacher,” he said. -he adds.
AFP
“We barricaded ourselves, then the police came and immobilized him.”
According to him, the victim is a French teacher at the university, as the general secretary of the teachers’ union Snes-FSU confirmed to AFP.
Two other unions told AFP that the attacker was “a former student”.
AFP
Videos circulated on social media showing a young man, wearing black trousers and a gray jacket, fighting with several adults in the pub’s courtyard, visibly holding a gun, before breaking away made his way to the front door.
“Horror”, “explosion”, “terrible”: French teachers contacted by AFP said they were “in shock”.
“The school is once again a target because it embodies the values of the Republic, freedom, equality, fraternity,” said Agnès Andersen, general secretary of a union of school principals.
Increased security in schools
The government has asked to immediately strengthen security at all educational institutions.
Since the attack at the Paris headquarters of the satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015, which killed 12 people, a wave of jihadist attacks in France have claimed more than 260 lives.
AFP
This new violent episode comes as war rages in Israel, raising the government’s fears of the conflict spreading to France.
On October 7, the horrific massacres carried out by Hamas in Israel claimed more than 1,200 Israeli casualties, while 150 hostages were taken to Gaza. More than 1,500 people were killed in Israeli bombing raids on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
On Thursday evening, President Macron called on the French to remain “united” and promised to be “ruthless against all those who bring hatred.” France has registered more than a hundred anti-Semitic acts since Saturday.